The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were in London to promote their latest album 'Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015' on a stage dressed only with a huge American flag hung vertically behind them.
I guess the flag was there to make sure everybody was aware of where they come from, i.e. USA, specifically New York City, and apparently their latest album is, in their own words, a "radical portrait of New York City: Freedom Tower is overmodulated, cooked with dirt, and finished in acid rain!"
The Blues Explosion minimalist three-piece rock band consists of Jon Spencer, Russell Simins, and Judah Bauer, and a lot of style. The Blues Explosion have been around for nearly a quarter-century with their outrageous playfulness and raw sound.
The concert was loaded with high-energy rock’n’roll and upbeat blues. Jon Spencer was very bouncy and did not stop for a second, sweating and preaching his odes to the blues. As always, he played the funkiest guitar, apparently a Zimgar-brand guitar bought from a pawnshop, theremin and had reverb-soaked vocals. Russell Simins was really smashing those drums keeping the beat going. And Judah Bauer played the most groovy guitar riffs, sang some rap-inspired lyrics and just performed cool moves the whole evening.
The band was super tight throughout the whole night, they moved seamlessly from one song into another, and played two energetic sets with a small break in between.
The crowd was also a plus, mainly thanks to the absence of compulsive picture takers who tend to spoil most social events nowadays. There was a bit of a mosh pit at times and everybody was mesmerised by the magnetic performance of the Blues Explosion.
The setting was fascinating as the Electric Ballroom has been used for music nights and concerts since the dawn of rock and roll, and it could be considered an archeological site for the genre. The architecture of the place is charming, drinks are overpriced, as it often happens in London, and bang on curfew time at 11pm, just five minutes after the Blues Explosion left the stage, the lights were switched on, very bright, and everybody was invited to leave
Just before the Blues Explosion, Ming City Rockers opened the scene magnificently, they had the American flag hung behind them but they are a four-piece rock band from the industrial town of Immingham, United Kingdom. They do not lack style, energy or cheekiness at all, and their songs have cool titles like “Chic and The Motherfuckers”. Their debut album came out about one year ago, they play some manic punk-rock and roll and have big hair …a bit like New York Dolls, maybe that’s the reason for the flag behind them!
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.